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Friday, October 27, 2006

If you think the right-wing "pro-family" conservatives are horrified by the recent New Jersey ruling, think again.

"Pro-traditional-marriage organizations ought to give a distinguished service award to the New Jersey Supreme Court," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Land and other conservative religious leaders predicted that the court's 4 to 3 ruling, which was handed down Wednesday, would boost turnout of social conservatives in the midterm elections, particularly in the eight states that have constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage on the Nov. 7 ballot....Before the New Jersey decision, conservative religious groups tried to rally their supporters around the issue of same-sex marriage, but with far less success than they had in the 2004 elections.

Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson, for example, held "Stand for the Family" rallies in three cities in September and October, drawing considerably smaller crowds than anticipated. The first rally, in Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, attracted 3,000 people to a 17,000-seat arena that Focus on the Family had predicted would be full.

The next two rallies, in St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 3 and Nashville on Oct. 16, were moved from stadium-size venues to smaller auditoriums, and the tickets, which had been on sale for $7, were given away. Each event also drew about 3,000 people, according to Focus on the Family spokesman Paul Hetrick.

"We don't gauge the success by the number of people," Hetrick said, adding: "I don't think it's the rallies [that flopped]. I just think it's more of a challenge to enthuse people about midterm elections."

I see, it's all about winning elections, is it?

It's one thing to do a little dance in private because you think this ruling will help you energize your base, but talking about how gay and lesbian couples getting treated equally under the law makes you want to hand out awards? What the hell? Do you even hear yourselves?

Sorry, you're not Christians anymore, you're total and complete CHARLATANS. You're a special interest who is clearly selling a bill of goods, your business goal is trying to manipulate, control the public, oppress and marginalize anyone who thinks and believes differently than you, and you have no shame about it whatsoever. I wonder if you even really care about same-sex marriage beyond that you think it's a good election strategy.